Legacy
by wintersladyoff
Summary: Amarah's life has not been easy, the only thing she has known has been pain and darkness. When the opportunity to escape from that life arises, she does not hesitate to take it. What discoveries and consequences will that decision bring to her life? Once she finds out who she really is, her life will not be the same. (Starting before the first Iron Man movie)
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:** _All characters (except Amarah and some others) and locations are property of Stan Lee and Marvel._

**Author´s Note:** _So, I have been working in this story for a while but just decided to go ahead and posted it. Several chapters are already complete but I would like to see what you think about this kind of prologue and then I will post the chapters, one at time. Thank you and let me know if I should post the story._

* * *

**Prologue**

How had all this started? She was not sure she knew the answer, or maybe there had been a time when she knew it but she seemed to have forgotten it, or maybe they had made her forget it over time. She knows her name, her last name and her age, but even so, she changes them continuously in order to survive.

Her current name was Karla, the one a month before had been Anahi, the previous year had been Emma, but her real name was Amarah and she was one of the few survivors of Hydra's experiments. How many there was like her? She was not sure she knew it, but it was not very likely that there were several. She herself had witnessed the death of most of them; the pain, the cries and laments were the protagonists of all her nightmares.

In them, everything she saw was not very different from what was happening in the real world; people dying, men, women and children, all used as animals to experiment. There were no distinctions by age, gender or condition. It made no difference to them if some of the women who were in the lab were pregnant. They used the fetuses in the same way and sometimes waited for the baby to be born to experiment with it.

The world of her dreams and in which she lived day by day was crazy and nobody could stop it.

Or at least that was what she believed, until people appeared who managed to save it, who managed to save her. They discovered everything Hydra did, the scientists and gifted people who worked for them, the weapons they had made and all the viruses they had designed.

In the process of salvation, many more people died, no one managed to escape the evil that was there, no one except her. With just seventeen years, she became the first person to survive the experiments and escape from one of the bases.

She ran without looking back, fighting for her freedom and for her life. She came to the outskirts of what she thought was the city because she was not sure how much things had changed. The last time she had seen the light of day she was only ten years old. She was walking in the park with her mother when an explosion happened, everything happened very fast and the memories she has of that moment are blurred. Perhaps because of the passing of the years or because of the experiments they carried out on her. The next thing she remembered was waking up in a dirty, dark room, on a mat on the floor and with her hands and feet tied. From that moment, everything became pain and loneliness for her.

When she began to tour the city, she realized that the world was not as she remembered it. While there was nothing worse than what she had experienced, she was surprised to learn that, similarly, what she called the good people also used weapons to attack the others, there were also scientists who experimented and there were also substances that had been created for them.

She had a hard time adapting to the new society; it was not easy not to get scared when she heard a noise or when someone walked very close behind her. The nightmares were still present, every night without fail. But she also discovered good things and people who changed her life; some of them are still present and some are part of her memories. She owes each of them something, but above all, she owes them her freedom and the opportunity to live. She does not care if she has to do it hiding, for the first time in her life she feels free, she has people who love her and reasons to fight.

Nor does it matter what the future holds or what happened in her past, she is willing to live without caring about the risks.

She is Amarah Stark and this is her story.


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** _All characters (except Amarah and some others) and locations are property of Stan Lee and Marvel._

**Author´s Note:**_ Thanks for checking out this story I have been working on it for some time. Thanks for the favorites, follows and thanks to Angi Mari for being my first review! I would like to know what you think and if you have some ideas for this story. Enjoy!_

* * *

**Chapter 1**

Amarah woke up with a strong headache, her body felt numb and her senses seemed to have detached from her body. She tried to open her eyes but her eyelids hurt and they felt heavy, she tried to bring one of her hands to her head to try to calm the pain so strong that she felt but could not. With a little more effort and pain, she managed to open her eyes and discovered why she had not been able to move her hand. Once again, she was tied. It should not surprise her to realize that but still; she could not help the tears of frustration that began to roll down her cheeks.

As her senses began to return to her body, she began to be aware of where she was and what had happened to her hours ago to find herself in this situation. She was in the same room where they used to send people who did not fulfill the purpose of the experiment or who behaved badly during the test.

Vaguely she recalled being called by one of the men in charge of the control of the hostages to go to the central laboratory, where they used to experiment with the thoughts and memories of the individuals. Amarah had begged the man in front of her to give her a little time before taking her with them; she needed to prepare herself for what was to come.

The experiments of this type, used to be the most painful and derogatory. Not only during the process but also later. The experiment consisted of altering the memories that the individuals had of their past lives and turning them into agreements designed by them to make them believe that all their life they had been preparing for when the moment to become a soldier of Hydra arrived.

The first time Amarah had gone through the experiment the consequences had been fatal. It was something she could never forget. She remembered exactly how they had taken her by force to the laboratory, tied hand and foot as a precaution to not try to escape. Upon entering the laboratory, the first thing she could see was the chair that was in the middle of the room. There were ropes on the sides where the arms were placed and more ropes on the bottom, where the feet were placed. The room was full of machines that Amarah didn´t know what they were for, there were wires all over the floor and there were no windows. With form approaching, Amarah could see the injections and medical devices that were on the side of the chair.

Once the same men who had taken her placed her in the chair and put the ropes on her feet and hands, two scientists who had already been in the room when she arrived began to place cables and small patches on her head, neck , arms, stomach and legs. The cables were all placed on her head and there was only one on her neck, the patches were distributed on the other parts of her body. Once that was done, one of the scientists took one of the needles and injected it into her neck, a little above where the cable was. The needle was large so it caused Amarah some trouble.

However, what came later showed Amarah that the needle's discomfort was nothing compared to the pain they were producing her. She felt that her head was going to explode, her vision blurred, she began to feel a pressure in her chest that made it difficult to breathe, her arms and legs felt numb and her ears buzzed.

She remembers that she began to scream and try to move but the cords on her feet and hands were tightly tied, so she only managed to move her body partially. Unable to endure it any longer, Amarah let herself be carried away by unconsciousness. When she woke up, she was in a dark room and felt much disoriented. Shortly afterwards a couple of guards brought her some water and explained why she was there.

After that and until this moment, Amarah never managed to complete the experiment satisfactorily. The pain and confusion was so big, that she started screaming and waving her arms in the middle of the experiment, the consequences were disastrous for her. Not only did she have to deal with the ravages of the experiment on her body and mind, leaving her weak, with severe headaches and with the feeling of not knowing what was true and what was a lie in her memories; she also had to deal with the punishment that was imposed on her for not to come with the test.

The punishment was almost always the same; they sent her to a dark room and kept her there for three days, without food and with very little water. After having been in this room several times, Amarah had tried to work harder and harder to complete the experiment, but never succeeded. Then, she began to accept the idea that she would have to learn to survive in that room, without complaining and trying to save as much water as they gave her for when they "forgot" to give her.

Today was the first day of her punishment and she was confident that the weakness and pain she felt would keep her asleep most of the day and avoiding the urge to drink water. It also represented a rest for her head. When she used to stay awake after the experiment, Amarah lost herself in her memories and was frustrated at not being able to identify which ones were hers and which ones had been placed by Hydra. So she preferred to sleep until her body and mind regained strength to continue fighting for survival.

She did not think of herself as someone who avoided pain or difficult situations, but she had so much to worry about and fight, that she tried to save her strength and energy for situations that would help her get out of this prison. There was nothing she could do to change what Hydra had done with her mind and what they would probably continue to do if she did not get out or die before, so she had decided not to wear herself out and take an easy way out.

With the thought that she was strong enough to keep fighting, she let himself be carried away by darkness.

* * *

When Amarah woke again, her body was less sore, her head no longer hurt and she was aware of everything around her. On the floor, next to the door, there was a glass of water. That meant it was the second day of punishment. Amarah had managed to decipher those little details that gave her information with the passage of time and her constant visits to the punishment room.

The guards did not bring her water on the first day, usually because she was unconscious or perhaps it was also part of the punishment. The second day was when they began to bring her water, twice a day and a piece of bread with a slice of cheese. The food was only received on the second day and on a single occasion. By the third day they bring her two glasses of water again.

Amarah did not have much to do inside that room. If she stayed awake for a long time, memories of everything that had happened in her life began to haunt her. Memories of her past life and her current life waged a battle inside her head that left her mentally drained.

Amarah used to have several happy memories of her life before Hydra, memories that with the passing of the experiments were erased and distorted. The only one who had managed to stay intact was the memory of the day Hydra kidnapped her. She remembered the nice blue dress she wore that day and her white shoes, remembered the fresh air in the park and the dancing of the leaves of the trees. She reminded the children that like her had gone to the park to play for a while and have fun; she remembered the ice cream stand where her mother had bought her one of her favorite flavor: vanilla. And she remembered her mother, beautiful and tall, taking her by the hand and taking her to each of the games she asked for.

Then, the memory transformed into screams, people running and the sound of a bomb exploding. Amarah remembered how her mother had tried to get her out of there as soon as possible; they started running towards the exit when they were intercepted by three men dressed in black, balaclavas and weapons. One of them took Amarah with him while she cried, shouted and kicked; asking they not to take her away from her mother. Another of the men began to hit her mother while the third entered the black truck behind them and began to light it.

They placed Amarah in the back, tied her hands and feet and put duct tape in her mouth before injecting her into her shoulder. Seconds later, everything went black for her.

Amarah tried to fight against those memories, at first she wished she could erase that day from her mind. Then she began to cling to that memory, it produced a force inside her that she did not know she had to keep fighting to survive and maybe someday, to avenge what they did to her mother and the childhood that was taken from her.

Clinging once more to that memory, Amarah plunged back into sleep.

* * *

The third day was always the longest and heaviest for Amarah. Her body had recovered fully, so she was not tired enough to sleep for several hours. It was on the third day, where she took advantage of the solitude she had to train for the next tests she had.

She tried to strengthen her mind by reviving as much as she could from all the times she had been taken to the lab to experiment. She forced her mind to understand the idea that the pain was not real. If she was convinced that the pain was false, maybe she could succeed in the future trial. Although she doubted it. The pain was so intense that there was no way to convince herself that it was not real and that frustrated her.

Amarah used hours trying to get strong that in the end, she managed to tire her body and mind enough to go back to sleep for several hours. Sometimes, she would fall asleep satisfied with the advances she made and other times, she would get angry at herself for not being stronger. The weakness did not help her in this situation. If she wanted to survive, she would have to start coping with the fact that her life was probably going to be full of pain, but that could not make her collapse and surrender without first fighting.

It had been seven years since she had first arrived at the base. Seven years in which nobody had been able to rescue her. Seven years full of pain and darkness. Still, Amarah did not lose hope of ever being free again. To be able to escape from this hell and try to leave Hydra in the past. She needed to be strong and endure everything that was to come, all the pain and all the experiments that had not yet arrived but that in due course she would live.

With the thought that at some point she would be presented with the opportunity to be free, Amarah allowed herself to be carried away by her dreams. Tomorrow would end her punishment and new things waited for her.


	3. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer:** _All characters (except Amarah and some others) and locations are property of Stan Lee and Marvel._

**Author´s Note:** _Thank you so much for the incredible response that you are giving to this story! Thanks for the favorites and follows. Please, do not hesitate to let me know what you think of the story, what you like and what you do not and your ideas with a review. That always helps me to want to continue publishing and writing the story. Also, I am very sorry for the delay it took me to upload this chapter but I was away from home for a few days and it was impossible for me to update. Without more to say, enjoy the chapter!_

* * *

**Chapter 2**

The opportunity to be free again was presented to Amarah three weeks after leaving the punishment room.

During the three weeks before regaining her freedom, Amarah's routine did not change much. Accustomed to the continuous experiments and training, she was not surprised when she was sent for calling the day after leaving the punishment room for a training session in one of the basement rooms. This type of training was what she preferred most. Even if it consisted of having to fight another of her companions until one of the two was left unconscious on the ground, Amarah enjoyed learning fighting tactics and gaining strength for when she had to use any of them.

The training had worked well for her and bad for her opponent. On that occasion she had fought with another of Hydra's younger recruits. Amarah trusted in how much she had learned from previous training and in the muscles that her body had developed, so she was not intimidated by the fact of fighting a man. They could have more muscles than her and a little more strength, but in a matter of strategy Amarah was the best there was.

The fight between them lasted for about fifteen minutes. Fifteen minutes full of punches, kicks and several falls that ended with the boy on the floor with a broken nose and several cuts on lips, arms and forehead; and with Amarah with bruises on her abdomen and a little blood coming from her nose and lip. Over the years and workouts, Amarah had stopped feeling guilty about the defeat of her opponents. She had learned that there was no other choice, it was her or them.

After the training, Amarah was sent back to her room where she was able to rest her aching muscles and cleanse the blood from her nose and lip. Three hours later she was called again, this time for a resistance experiment.

Like the mental experiments, the resistance experiments were torture for her. It consisted in facing her to several situations where they presented her biggest fears and difficult situations for her. Amarah always tried to finish these experiments quickly. Hydra had a habit of making her experience the scene of her abduction again and again as part of the training. She did not know how they managed to make her feel that what she was experiencing was real and that she was once again in that situation.

Once Amarah was able to overcome the experiment, her body was covered by a layer of sweat that started on her forehead and ended on the soles of her feet. Her eyes were burning and her head hurt, even so, it was not as difficult as the mental experiment.

Once again, Amarah was taken back to her room to rest. Apparently they had had enough of her because they did not come back for her to take her to another experiment or fight.

The following days of the first week passed in the same way. In the mornings she had physical training and in the afternoons they performed experiments on her. Each day that passed, Amarah noticed how her resistance to the constant experiments was getting stronger. She no longer felt so disoriented once she was taken back to her room and had learned to ignore the constant headaches that she almost did not feel them anymore.

The training was still favorable for her. She had not lost any of her fights and had managed to get free of cuts and punches in two of them. On those occasions, she had managed to knock down her opponents in the first five minutes of the fight. Unlike other days where she had even reached thirty minutes in a confrontation with another man who was older than her, even so, Amarah had managed to give several blows to his nose and head that left him stunned and with a kick in the stomach he was soon on the ground.

Amarah could see how impressed and proud the trainers were every time she managed to knock down one of her opponents. It was no secret to anyone that Amarah was one of the most precious possessions they had. Her resistance to training and experiments was greater than of any other recruit and that made her a favorite for them. Although the treatment she received was not very different from that of the others, Amarah could notice small compartments that were different from those of the other recruits.

By the time the second week arrived, Amarah was impressed to discover that all the experiments and workouts of the week were going to focus only on the physical part. She could not help the sigh of relief that came from her lips knowing that she would not have to go through the mental experiments, at least not that week.

As on previous occasions, Amarah managed to win all her fights and her behaviors in physical experiments were increasingly surprising. Not only for those responsible for these experiments, but also for her.

Amarah had managed to cope with more resistance the time it took to simulate a difficult situation for her and her reflexes and behaviors before these were increasingly favorable. She managed to distinguish certain elements to cling to in order to remain conscious of what was true and what was a lie. Even when the scientists increased the level of difficulty and the situations were becoming more suffocating and desperate, Amarah managed to pass each one of the tests efficiently. Exceeding her results in each subsequent test.

The last day before the end of the second week, Amarah was not sent to call all day. On the contrary, it was rewarded for her improvement and effort with a little food and three glasses of water a day. Although for any other recruit that would have meant a gift or the best that could happen, Amarah knew that meant something was to come. And she was almost sure it would be complicated for her.

And that's how it happened. For the third week, Amarah was informed that there would only be four days of experiments and they would all be mental. Amarah could not be more frustrated and desperate for that situation. Although she had made much progress in her physical and mental endurance, she had not tried to prove it in these experiments.

The first day of experiments had the same result as in previous occasions. Amarah had managed only to resist the first half of mind control and had begun to shout and move her arms insistently trying to free herself from the wires and the scientists surrounding her. She was immediately sent to the punishment room, but this time it would only be one day of punishment.

The second day of experiments, Amara managed to resist ten minutes more than the previous time. Even so, that was not enough to complete the experiment and was sent back to the punishment room. Her nose hurt more than on other occasions and her sight was very blurred. Her ears buzzed and she could not take a step for herself.

When she woke up the next day, she was informed that she would have a rest day before returning to the laboratory. Amarah distributed that day between regaining strength and her senses, and trying to work her mind herself. With so many experiments to which she had been subjected, Amarah had managed to encode the sequence of memories that Hydra modified in her mind. So she fully consents tried to work with it. Changing some in all the possible ways in which they would do it and trying to eliminate those that did not serve to her.

By the third day of experiments, the results were favorable for her. She had managed to reach the third part of the experiment and although she had not completed it, her behavior and resistance allowed her to escape from the punishment room. Amarah could not be happier and proud of herself.

The last day of experiments was an achievement for Amarah. Incredibly he managed to resist the whole test and when it was over, the discomforts she had were minimal. The scientists had smiled proudly once the experiment ended and Amarah was immediately sent to her room.

The happiness that surrounded her was so great that it seemed unknown to her after years of sadness and pain. Amarah was convinced that this meant many changes for her, now she was able to control her mind and her strength was superior to that of the others. She just needed the chance to escape and she would use all her skills and resources to be free once more.

* * *

On the day of the escape, Amarah woke up with the feeling that something was going to happen. She did not know if it was something good or bad, but something definitely was about to happen.

Once she had placed the clothes that were at the side of her bed on a chair, Amarah soon heard the sound of footsteps approaching her room and in less than a minute there was someone behind her door.

"I hope you're ready girl" a deep, cold voice was heard behind her door and Amarah soon learned that the man outside her room was the same one who always came for her when there was physical training. "The training is about to start, so you better be ready or I'll take you by force, no matter if you're naked or half-dressed" being accustomed to the tactlessness of her kidnappers, Amarah only managed to roll her eyes before opening the door of her room.

"Always so polite and friendly" Amarah's tone was full of sarcasm and it was cold just like theirs. The man in front of her was dressed in black, just like all the others, his face had several scars on the right side and he carried two pistols on each of his thighs. He was much taller than Amarah and his brown eyes were cold and empty.

"Stop the nonsense and start moving forward if you do not want me to start to despair, girl"

Not wanting to provoke him more than she had already done, Amarah began to walk towards the training room followed by the man in black who always stood behind her and with one of his hands on one of the pistols. The road from his room to the basement was dark and had several stairs that had to go down. There were no windows in the entire corridor and the floor was wet in certain areas thanks to the water that fell from broken pipes. Amarah had managed to accustom her eyes to the darkness so she did not stop at all until she reached the basement.

Soon, Amarah found herself inside the training room. It was by far the largest room she had been in, with four windows scattered on each of the walls. There were several weapons and defense equipment on the ground and on some shelves, there were ten old and dirty boxing bags and on the side of these there were several buckets of water that were used to clean the blood of the bags and the floor.

In the center of the room there was a kind of boxing ring that consisted of red lines forming a square and surrounding a mat so thin that it was as if you fell on the floor anyway. Amarah could see that most of the other recruits were already there and even some were already training, so she did not waste time and approached the fighting area.

"Ahh! Look who we have here" one of those in charge of carrying out the training spoke "Nothing more and nothing less than our star recruit, our little Amarah"

Amarah felt heat envelop her body and concentrate on her face, specifically on her cheeks. Not because she appreciated the man's words, but because she hated being the center of attention and nauseating her the disrespectful way in which he looked at her. Amarah was used to the constant lascivious glances and two-way comments that were directed toward her, although that did not make it easier to cope. So Amarah only directed a small nod to the man and began to prepare for training.

When it was Amarah's turn to fight, there were no more than three possible opponents, two men and one woman. The woman and one of the men were about her age, while the other man was undoubtedly older than them, though not by much. Her opponent turned out to be the man who was more or less her age and who was also one of the best recruits. Two places below her.

The fight was going well for Amarah. She had managed to connect several blows to the abdomen and face of her opponent, while he had managed to hit her on the chin and one of her ribs. Amarah was about to knock him down when they began to hear several noises and footsteps outside the room. Then, two men unexpectedly entered the room beginning to shout that they were under attack.

Amarah and the other recruits who were not unconscious did not know what to do. In all the time they had been there, they had never faced an attack situation. But it was Amarah who first reacted and started running out of the room.

Once she found herself in the same corridor she had arrived at, Amarah noticed three bodies on the floor surrounded by blood. Ahead there were several men fighting between them. Amarah noticed how busy and distracted they were and dodging blows and kicks managed to get past them. But the men fighting and the bodies on the floor did not end there. Amarah soon noticed another confrontation taking place on the next floor and tried to do the same as on the previous floor but was stopped before reaching the stairs. When Amarah turned willing to fight whoever was holding her, she was surprised to see that it was a woman. Her hair was reddish and short, her eyes were green and she wore what appeared to be a black leotard.

"You're good?" the woman asked her and Amarah could distinguish an accent in her, although she did not know which was "I am here on behalf of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement, and Logistics Division"

"The what?" Amarah could not help asking, whatever it was had a name too long and did not know if they were here to help her or kill her at once.

"We are an espionage agency" _I still do not know if that is good or bad_, Amarah thought "We are here to help you; I need you to trust me"

"And why would I do that?" Amarah noticed how a small smile appeared between the lips of the spy in front of her "How do I know this is not a trap and you're just going to take me somewhere else to keep playing with my mind?"

"You have temperament, I like it. Look, I'm telling you the truth. We are here to tear down this Hydra base; if you want to believe in me and come with me you can do it. If not, you can stay here or find a way to escape from yourself but you need to make a decision soon"

Amarah carefully analyzed the woman in front of her. She had no reason to lie to her and seemed willing to help her, and no matter how much advantage give to her the fact that the guards were more engaged in fighting than in taking care of the recruits, it did not guarantee that she would escape on her own. So she does not hesitate to make a decision.

"Fine, I'll go with you, but we're just going to be the two of us against them, there's no way we can make much progress" no matter how much the idea of being free moved her, Amarah could not stop seeing things as they were and that was the reality.

"Leave that to me" the spy in front of her winked at her before starting to advance to the top floor. Amarah could not help but smile a little before beginning to follow her, trusting fully in her.

Soon Amarah discovered that she was right in trusting her because the spy knew everything she did. The clean way she fought against Hydra's guards. As she knocked down one after the other, she even managed to knock down more than one or two in a single movement.

In the blink of an eye, Amarah and the spy soon found themselves outside the base's facilities. Amarah could not avoid the sound of shame that left her lips to breathe again natural air, seeing the sky again and being outside of what was her prison for ten long years. The emotion that seized her was so great that she could not stop the tears that began to roll down her cheeks. Amarah looked at the spy in front of her and found her with a hand on her ear and moving her lips. _Surely she is communicating with her bosses to tell them that the mission had gone well_, Amarah told herself.

Without knowing very well what happened inside her, Amarah gave one last glance at the spy before starting to run through the forest. She caught the screams of the spy behind her but that did not stop her. For the first time after many years she felt again the air on her face and the natural light of the sun, she can see the leaves of the trees move and the birds fly free through the sky. Free...just like her.


End file.
